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Girls soccer: Lady Farmers, Lady M's open Lewisville Cup with wins
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
LEWISVILLE - The Lady Farmers soccer team opened the 2013 Lewisville Cup on a positive note Thursday as the host notched a 2-0 decision over Plano East.
Lewisville received a goal and assist from Bria Williams in the second half. Williams nearly added a second and third goal late in the contest but a pair of floaters deflected off the crossbar.
"I thought this was a good team match," said Becca Willett, Lewisville head coach. "Our center-mids did a very good job and our defense was organized. Overall, it was a good effort all the way around."
All that changed in the second half when the odd-man rushes led to a pair of goals.
"In the first half, we got the ball forward OK but nobody was really willing to take a shot and that's kind of important to score goals," Willett said. "We just weren't taking advantage of chances. That was the biggest thing. That was the emphasis at halftime because there are going to be games when you only really have one or two chances and if you don't take advantage, you may not ever score."
Lewisville got on the board at the 28:30 mark when Katie Cummins pushed forward down the right side and found Williams for a chip-shot high and past the East keeper.
Moments later, after a shot off a coast-to-coast push was denied by East, Williams got another look when she corralled a bouncing ball but her attempt hit the bar.
The Lady Farmers finally got the insurance they had been seeking at the 17:28 mark when Williams sent a cross that was headed into the right side by Sam Naughton.
"Williams is a great player as a freshman," Willett said. "She's very composed and sees the field well and did a good job."
East put just four shots on goal in the match and had its biggest threats in the waning minutes, including a push to the goal by Katie Howard that resulted in a shot off the post. Howard also generated a solid scoring chance early in the second half when she came up with a steal and sent a cross in the box.
However, Lewisville goalie Kim Hosey beat an East forward to the pass for the clear.
"We didn't have any offense today," said Eric Smith, East head coach. "We had four shots to their 13. It's going to be hard to equalize that way. I would say if we played better, things might have turned out a little differently."
Smith added the Lady Panthers have been making progress offensively, but still have room to improve.
"Possession is the biggest thing we have to get better at," he said. "That was the difference in this game and primarily in our midfield position. We still have a ways to go there."
Lewisville, meanwhile, was pleased with its performance defensively.
"I thought we did very well," Willett said. "We knew [Howard] was their go-to player and we made a point to try and shut her down because she can cause problems. We were pretty effective in that and [East] wasn't able to get many chances."
Lewisville continues Saturday against Bryan Adams. The championship game was slated for 4 p.m. Saturday.
"We're focusing on possessing the ball and playing quickly because I know speed of play is going to be a factor moving forward," Willett said. "We just have to work on the things we need to get better at each game and we have done that so far. As long as we're making progress, I can't really ask for anything else."
East continues Saturday against Arlington Martin.
"We have a lot of things we need to improve on," Smith said. "It doesn't help to have some of the injuries we have right now and we had several more go down today. The next man just needs to step up. We're trying to survive it right now."
Lewisville wasn't the only 5-5A team in action Thursday at Goldsmith Stadium as Marcus kicked the tournament off with a 4-0 result over Arlington Lamar.
The Lady Marauders received goals from Rachel Rupp (2), Bailey Clayton and Katelyn Mountjoy.
"We were a little lethargic coming out," said Chad Hobbs, Marcus head coach. "Maybe it was the heat, I don't really know, but we've had a lot of games over the past few weeks."
After the slow start, the Lady Marauders kicked things in gear and never looked back.
"We were able to start connecting some passes and strung together a few nice goals," Hobbs said.
Next up for Marcus is W.T. White on Saturday.
"Defensively, we want to continue to work on keeping our shape and being disciplined," Hobbs said. "And we've really been focusing on the attack and going after people. We need to take our chances, which I think we've done this year. On both sides of the ball, we've been pretty solid so far."
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